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60 free The Shawshank Redemption trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Shawshank Redemption bombed in 1994, lost all seven of its Oscar nominations and then quietly became the most beloved film on the planet through video rentals and cable reruns. This trivia quiz covers the whole story: Andy Dufresne and Red, Warden Norton and Captain Hadley, Brooks and Tommy, the rock hammer and the posters, the Marriage of Figaro scene and the escape through the sewer pipe. It also goes behind the camera. You will be asked about the Stephen King novella and its collection, the actors who turned the roles down, the Ohio prison that stood in for a Maine penitentiary, the Caribbean beach that played Zihuatanejo, the box-office numbers, the Academy Awards, and the film's long climb to number one on IMDb. The 60 questions run from easy ones any casual viewer can get to hard ones for people who have read the novella and watched every making-of documentary. Every answer was checked against the film's documented production history, so you can trust the answer key when you use these at a movie night or pub quiz.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year was The Shawshank Redemption released in cinemas?
1994
It opened the same autumn as Pulp Fiction and was quickly buried by bigger films, only finding its audience on video and cable.
Q 02Who wrote and directed the film?
Frank Darabont
It was his feature directing debut; he later adapted two more stories by the same author, The Green Mile and The Mist.
Q 03Which author wrote the novella the film is based on?
Stephen King
The studio mostly left the author's name out of the advertising, fearing audiences would expect a horror movie.
Q 04What is the full title of the 1982 novella?
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
The odd title led several people to audition for the nonexistent role of the actress, including a man in drag.
Q 05The novella first appeared in which 1982 collection?
Different Seasons
The same collection contains The Body, which became Stand by Me, and Apt Pupil.
Q 06What was Andy Dufresne's profession before prison?
Banker
His financial skills are what make him useful to the guards and, eventually, the warden.
Q 07Who plays Andy Dufresne?
Tim Robbins
To prepare he watched caged animals at a zoo, spent an afternoon in solitary confinement and had his arms and legs shackled for hours.
Q 08Who plays Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding?
Morgan Freeman
He earned a Best Actor nomination for the role, one of the film's seven Oscar nominations.
Q 09In the novella, Red is described as what?
An Irish-American
When Andy asks why he is called Red in the film, he answers, "Maybe it's because I'm Irish" — a wink at the casting change.
Q 10What is the surname of the warden of Shawshank?
Norton
He is a composite of several wardens from the novella, merged so the film would have a single main antagonist.
Q 11Which actor plays the warden?
Bob Gunton
He auditioned while shooting Demolition Man with a shaved head, so the production had a wig made for his screen test.
Q 12What is the name of the brutal captain of the guards?
Byron Hadley
Andy first wins protection by offering to help him legally shelter an inheritance from tax.
Q 13Whose poster hides the tunnel when Andy's cell is found empty?
Raquel Welch
The warden discovers it by throwing a stone at the poster in a rage.
Under what alias does Andy launder the warden's money in the film?
Q 21Which real prison served as the fictional Shawshank penitentiary?
Ohio State Reformatory
It had closed only three years before filming, and its Gothic stone buildings gave the producers the timeless look they wanted.
Q 22Most of the film was shot in and around which city?
Mansfield, Ohio
The town now runs a 15-stop Shawshank Trail and local shops sell "Shawshanwiches".
Q 23In which US state is the story set?
Maine
Andy arrives from Portland, Maine, in 1947; the author sets much of his fiction in the state.
Randall Stephens
The novella uses a different name; the film changed it.
Q 15Andy dreams of starting over in which Mexican Pacific town?
Zihuatanejo
Andy describes it as a place with no memory; critics have read it as a stand-in for heaven.
Q 16Which opera does Andy play over the prison loudspeakers?
The Marriage of Figaro
The recording arrives in a library donation after years of weekly letters to the legislature; the screenplay compares finding it to finding the Holy Grail.
Q 17What is the first item Andy asks Red to smuggle in for him?
A rock hammer
The scene where he asks for it took nine hours to film, leaving Red's actor with his arm in a sling from throwing a baseball in every take.
Q 18Which elderly inmate is paroled after 50 years and cannot cope outside?
Brooks Hatlen
In the novella he is a minor character who dies in a retirement home; the film made him a tragic figure.
Q 19Which young inmate reveals that his former cellmate confessed to Andy's crime?
Tommy Williams
Andy helps him pass his GED first; in the novella he is transferred to a nicer prison rather than killed.
Q 20Who leads the gang known as "the Sisters"?
Bogs Diamond
James Gandolfini passed on the part; after the beating that nearly kills Andy, the character is crippled and transferred out.
Q 24What was the film's production budget?
$25 million
Castle Rock approved it within two weeks of reading the script; the writer-director took a $750,000 salary plus a share of net profits.
Q 25Roughly how much did the film gross in its initial 1994 theatrical run?
$16 million
It failed to recoup its budget and was written off as a bomb until the Oscar nominations prompted a re-release.
Q 26How many Academy Award nominations did the film receive?
7
That is the most for any adaptation of the author's work; it won none of them.
Q 27Which film beat it to the Best Picture Oscar?
Forrest Gump
A 2013 Sky UK poll named Shawshank the greatest film never to win Best Picture.
Q 28Who composed the film's score?
Thomas Newman
It was his first Oscar nomination, and excerpts were used in other movies' trailers for years afterwards.
Q 29Who was the cinematographer?
Roger Deakins
He was hired at the lead actor's insistence after they worked together on The Hudsucker Proxy, and he considers the escape scene "over-lit".
Q 30Where was the closing beach reunion actually filmed?
St. Croix, Virgin Islands
The beach is Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, a protected nesting site for leatherback sea turtles.